Prepositions: the essentials

You will already know a little about this area if you have followed
the guide to word class. You learnt
there that prepositions are a class of closed system items (meaning that
there are a finite number in the language).

Definition

Prepositions in English usually come before a noun and tell us the
relationship between two things. For example, in
The man was
standing on the streetthe preposition tells us the relationship
between stand and street.
Sometimes a preposition can come before a verb -ing clause in
e.g., by using this website.

They are difficult to learn for a number of reasons.

They do not readily translate between languages so, for example,
we have the English She took it off the tablebeing in German
She took it from the tableand so on.
It is also the case that a preposition in one language may be
translated a number of ways in English depending on the context and
vice versa.

Some languages do not use prepositions at all, preferring to
change verbs or to insert post-positions such as
She walked the
road along.
(English sometimes
does this, too, in things likeThe whole day throughbut it is unusual.)

Prepositions perform multiple tasks so we have
I met her
at the station at 1 o'clockwhere at is performing two different, if related,
functions.

Prepositions need not be single words such as on or
out. There are many which are two words such as apart
from or next to and some like as well as
or as soon as which are three words long.

There is a certain randomness about the use of prepositions in
many languages and English is no exception. We say, e.g., in the morning, in the evening
andin the afternoon but
at night.

The prepositional phrase

A prepositional phrase consists of the preposition and its complement
(usually a noun or pronoun but sometimes a verb phrase with -ing).
Because prepositions are structural or functional words, they carry no
meaning in themselves. The word at means nothing but at the bus stop does carry meaning. A
prepositional phrase is generally the target of teaching, therefore.

Common prepositions

A list of all the prepositions in English runs to over 200 words but
many are rare or obsolete words such as athwart, betwixt and
pursuant to. Except at quite advanced levels, these are
probably best left alone.
There are far fewer common prepositions which form the majority of
prepositional phrases. Think of 10 and then
click for a list.

about
above
across
ago
at
before
below

beside
by
for
from
in
into
next to

of
off
on
onto
out of
over
past

since
through
till
to
towards
under
until

Not only are these prepositions the commonest ones, they are among
the commonest words in English. It is hard to imagine a written or
spoken text in which some don't appear.
(Note: ago is in this list but many would categorise the word
as an adverb rather than here where it forms the only example of a
post-position.)

Marginal prepositions

Some words, often verbs, can act as prepositions but are often
categorised as something else (generally as non-finite verbs or even
adjectives). Here are some examples:

Following my instinct, I tried change the switch

Regarding the information you gave, I made my decision

We'll have to wait,
pending the outcome of the
meeting.

Given
the fact that he is so late, I think we should start.

Including / Excluding the money we spent on petrol, the
trip was cheap.

Six
minus / plus / times / over three is ....

Making sense of prepositions

The two fundamental categories of prepositions are time
and place.

Some of the prepositions above can naturally act in
both ways (at 6 o'clock, at the bank), some only refer to place
(beside the road) and some only to time (since 1940).
Can you categorise them?
Click when you have.

through (the park)
beside (the river)
from (London)
into (the box)
next to (the house)
off (the road, the top)
onto (the table)
out of (the box)
above (the airport)
across (the street)
below (the plane)
of (a tramp)

on (Monday, the table)
over (a week, the town)
past (four o'clock, the door)
by (my side, 6 o'clock)
in (an hour, the class)
to (the end of the day, the corner)
under (a month, the table)
about (the house, twenty minutes)
at (the corner, 6:15)
before (4 o'clock, me)
towards (the station, dawn)

OK. Now we can look at each group separately and
identify the important issues.

Prepositions of time

Preposition

Use

Example

on

days

on Monday, on my birthday

in

months
time of day
year
period of time

in January
in the morning
in 1998
in two years

at

night
weekend / holidays
point in time

at night (time)
at the weekend, at Christmas
at 4 o'clock

since

from a point in time

since then, since 2009

for

a period of time

for a week

ago

post-positional for period of time

two years ago

before

earlier than a point in time

before 9

to / till / until

showing start and finish
duration

from now to eternity
until the end of the day

past / to

time telling

ten past, quarter to

by

at the latest

by 10 o'clock at least

Issues

since, for and ago

cause serious problems because their concepts vary across languages.
Errors such as I have worked since 4 hours are common.

on, in and at

cause problems for similar reasons. Teaching in the
morning as a single item is a solution rather than asking
learners to match prepositions to time expressions.

by

is frequently used with future perfect forms (such as
She will have finished by 6). In many languages until
is synonymous so you will hear Be here until 6 o'clock
(when by or before is meant).

Issues

relative exactness

in and at are often used in tandem to say that
one position is more exact than the other. For example
She is in London tomorrow and arrives at
Paddington
When she's in the station, she'll
ring and I'll pick her up at the entrance.(Compare: I'll see here in the morning at 11.)

above, over, below, under

sometimes cause problems because above and below
imply relative height but over and under
often imply position exactly. So we get,
The plane flew
below 5000 feet directly over the town
I couldn't
see the key because it was under the paper
In future, I'll
hang it on the hook over the door.

movement

is handled differently in many languages so expect error such as I saw it onto the tableor
I looked into my pockets.
Additionally, onto and intoonly imply movement
but on and in can imply position or movement.Out of usually implies movement but is often used by learners for
position so we get
*It's out of the boxrather than
It's
outside the box.(There are also times when out of
does refer to position:
I left it out of the house.)